November 12, 2008
“I would not want to be in James Dobson’s shoes tonight,” said Wayne Besen of the organization Truth Wins Out Saturday night.
The activist was taking part in a rally outside the Renaissance Hotel to protest the Focus on the Family founder’s induction into the Radio Hall of Fame...Full Story / Comment
Freestyle
Renslow’s Physique Photography
Before there was the Chicago Eagle, before there was the Gold Coast, before there was Man’s Country, there was Kris Studio, through which Chicago entrepreneur Chuck Renslow created and sold “physique” photos of nude and semi-nude men and sold them to gay collectors... Full Story / Comment
A date with Kate: an interview with actress Kate Siegel
In the movie “Steam,” openly bi actress Kate Siegel plays Elizabeth. Living under the roof of her religious parents’ home while going to college and exploring her lesbian sexuality creates a mountain of stress for Elizabeth. But in the health club steam room, where she meets Doris (Ruby Dee) and Laurie (Ally Sheedy), two women also dealing with serious personal issues, she is able to relax and sweat away the... Full Story / Comment
Hey pilgrim: Hosting Thanksgiving dinner
In the fall of 1621, the religious separatists known as the pilgrims gathered for a three-day feast to celebrate the harvest. Today America celebrates thanksgiving with a holiday on the fourth Thursday of November—and a three-day celebration now often extends to four days, a long weekend of feasting, shopping and relaxing... Full Story / Comment
After the 2008 Presidential election, the crumbling economy and the endless war, the other subject that is most likely weighing on people’s minds is the winter holidays. There are parties and meals and gifts and an assortment of other celebration preoccupations to tend to. Your holiday music should be the least of your concerns... Full Story / Comment
CFP reviews 'The Brothers Karamazov','Chekhov’s Life in the Country','Haram Iran'. Full Story / Comment
Freeview: Really Reeling edition
“Choose Connor” (Strand Releasing)—The worlds of innocence and experience collide in the political drama “Choose Connor.” Idealistic student Owen (Alex D. Linz) is at the top of his middle school class. At his graduation ceremony, Congressman Connor (Stephen Weber) presents him with... Full Story / Comment
“Cybill: The Collector’s Edition, Volume 1”—This double disc set is a “greatest bits” compilation from Cybill Shepherd’s popular and Emmy Award-winning sitcom “Cybill.” A 10 episode assortment of shows airing between 1995 and 1998, in which Shepherd played the titular character, Cybill Sheridan, an actress frustrated that... Full Story / Comment
Nov. 15: Comedian Susie Essman is at the Centre East at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie, at 8 p.m. Call (847) 673-6300... More / Comment
Angelina: The perfect spot for romance
What is it about Italian restaurants that make them so romantic? Perhaps it is our childhood memories of Lady and the Tramp, where they share a plate of spaghetti and nibble a strand until their lips meet. I’ve been in a number of Italian joints that don’t evoke that feeling, but Angelina, with its two intimate dining rooms... Full Story / Comment
Turn Up the Heat—But Not the Gas Bill
With winter fast approaching—as well as home heating bills— it’s a good time to think about ways to warm up your home without having to turn up the furnace... Full Story / Comment
Breaking News
Marriage Equality Rally, November 15, 2008
Friday Nov. 14, 12:00pm
Chicago LGBT activists have organized a rally for marriage equality at 12:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 15th at the Federal Plaza, corner of Adams and Dearborn Streets, Chicago. The event is part of a nationwide series of simultaneous protests... Full Story / Comment
News
Barbara Broccoli, the producer behind more than a decade of 007 movies, said she can imagine James Bond as a black man but not as a gay secret agent. Broccoli’s father bought the Bond franchise from creator Ian Fleming when Barbara was just 1-year-old. Since her father’s death in 1996, Barbara... Full Story / Comment
Californians protest Prop. 8 passage
LOS ANGELES—Backlash to the passage of an anti-gay-marriage law continued to sweep across California on
Sunday, with hundreds of protesters rallying outside an Orange County megachurch whose popular pastor brought Barack Obama and John McCain together last summer for... Full Story / Comment
Hollywood joins the furor over gay marriage ban
LOS ANGELES—Thousands of protesters are angry about California’s ban on gay marriage—and so are the stars. Many celebrities grieved the passing of Proposition 8 in California this week. Some— such as Wanda Sykes, Rose McGowan and Lance Bass—attended a Nov. 5 protest criticizing the state’s gay marriage ban... Full Story / Comment
Gay marriage ban backlash: Calls for Utah boycott
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)—Utah’s growing tourism industry and the star-studded Sundance Film Festival are being targeted for a boycott by bloggers, gay rights activists and others seeking to punish the Mormon church for its aggressive promotion of California’s ban on gay marriage... Full Story / Comment
New York eyes allowing gay marriage; opponents vow fight
ALBANY, N.Y.—Even as voters in California banned same-sex marriage in a tight referendum, last week’s election opened the door for the same debate in New York. The pending shift in state Senate control away from Republicans removes one clear... Full Story / Comment
Conn. voters decide not to change constitution
HARTFORD, Conn.—Voters in Connecticut decided last week against holding a convention to amend the state’s constitution, dealing a major blow to opponents of same-sex marriage. Connecticut voters are asked every 20 years whether the state should hold convention during which delegates can rewrite the entire constitution... Full Story / Comment
LOS ANGELES—Several legal challenges to California’s newly approved same-sex marriage ban are under way, asking the state’s highest court to overturn the measure. Two petitions filed Nov. 5 ask the Supreme Court to invalidate Proposition 8 on the grounds that voters did not have the authority to make such a dramatic change in state... Full Story / Comment
Rural voters, Christians back foster, adoption ban
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Rural counties and evangelical voters fueled by a pulpit campaign pushed Arkansas into adopting one of the nation’s strictest bans on unmarried couples serving as foster or adoptive parents... Full Story / Comment
Age, religion factors in Ariz. vote on marriage
PHOENIX—A voter-approved proposition to put Arizona’s ban on same-sex marriages in the state Constitution enjoyed stronger support from older and religious voters than younger and nonreligious ones but ethnicity didn’t appear to be as much of a factor... Full Story / Comment
Not totally blue: Fla. bans gay marriage
MIAMI—Florida may have turned blue on Election Day, but voters in nearly every county voiced resounding agreement on one conservative measure: Marriage should be defined in the state’s constitution as between a man and a woman... Full Story / Comment
A new Illinois law that went into effect in June gives people on Medicare who are under the age of 65 the same rights to purchase a Medigap plan as those 65 and older. A special one-time, six-month open enrollment period for current Medicare participants ends Nov. 30... Full Story / Comment
Editorial
Last week’s headline in this paper was a quote from President Elect Barack Obama’s Tuesday night speech: “This is your victory.” Now, in hindsight, the irony of that statement is blistering. Elation for many in our community over Mr. Obama’s election was blunted by the passage last week of anti-gay referenda in California, Florida, Arizona and Arkansas... Full Story / Comment
Many of us are still catching our breath after this year’s historic election. Yet it is not too early to begin thinking about the election in 2010, particularly in light of the heart-breaking repudiation of equal marriage rights in Florida , Arizona , and... Full Story / Comment
Opinion
There’s no time to point fingers
My heart broke last week. A lot of our hearts did. On election night, I was sitting in New York City’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, which was standing room only. We were all riveted to CNN. I was blogging, so I was staring at my laptop, switching back and forth between presidential election results and the Proposition 8 vote... Full Story / Comment
Most gays and lesbians are presumably pleased as punch over the election of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as president. Exit polls suggest that four percent of the Nov. 4 total vote was openly gay or lesbian and about 70 percent of that number voted for Obama. No doubt some gays and lesbians declined to indicate their sexual orientation to exit pollsters, so we... Full Story / Comment
